Writer Wednesday: The Dreaded Writer’s Block

We all get it sometimes, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. Writer’s Block. Duh duh duuuuuuuh! (if you’ve seen The Croods, you’ll get this)

I still haven’t figured out a foolproof way to get over this – sometimes I take a break, sometimes I try taking the story a different direction, sometimes I just plow through with sheer stubbornness. Depends on the day.

But I thought it might be fun to take a look at the ways many of the most prolific professional authors deal with this common phenomenon.

Take a Walk

Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl, packs herself a sandwich, takes the dog, and starts walking, resolved that she won’t stop walking until she sorts out the problem. Apparently she has never yet ended up out all night.

Back Up

Nicholas Sparks, author of tear jerkers like The Notebook, backtracks through his work in progress and edits, realizing that the block stems from making a mistake somewhere along the line with characters or plot.

From Bad to Worse

Most of the time we try to solve writer’s block by solving a problem, but horror author Stephen King suggests that most of the time adding a problem does the trick.

Don’t Force It

Jeffery Deaver, a mystery/suspense author, says that his writer’s block often stems from “trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place.”

Shuffle Multiple Projects

Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, works on multiple writing projects at once, so if she becomes stuck on one, she can work on others. As she becomes stuck on those, the first project usually loosens up.

Some great ideas, thank you Erin. I would say like some of the ideas here what works for me is to distract myself in some way.. take my mind off of it.. as concentrating too hard on it makes it more difficult. I think that doing this frees my mind up to be more creative. It depends on how ‘big’ the block feels, so it could just be that I switch projects for awhile or it could mean that I need to step away totally to practice some self-care, like taking a nap, talking to a friend, etc.